Applestorm
by Out of business
Summary: Hatred.Anger.Despair.REVENGE.That's all Applejack thought as she lay close to death in the forest.Darkness closes in on Equestria unknown to all besides AJ, Rainbow, and their new friend, and it seems that the Elements of Harmony wont be enough to beat it
1. The Beginning

**Chapter the First**

Applejack stared out over the cliff gazing out at the setting sun over the forest. Her long white traveling cloak blew in the wind. She adjusted the lasso, knife, and bow and arrow-quiver that were resting on her back and gritted her teeth. _I know yall're out there_ she thought bitterly _and I will find you and make you pay fer what yall did to me. _

_ I don't know your name, but I remember clearly what you look like pardner and once we're face to face, you won't escape me._

Her cowboy hat tilted slightly, shadowing her eyes. "Applejack?" asked a tomboyish female voice from behind her.

"Rainbowdash," she replied blankly, not turning.

"I uh… came to see if you were okay," the blue Pegasus answered sheepishly.

"Why _wouldn't_ I be okay?" she growled.

"Well for one you're acting really cold, you came storming into town muttering to yourself and not giving anything a second thought, and you've got bandages covering the major vein in your leg, on the side of your neck, and under your left eye…" Rainbowdash explained. "And is that a sharpened bow and arrow on your back?"

"Yes," she retorted coldly.

"Why?"

"I'm gonna to find who did this to me."

"And you're going to kill him?" Rainbowdash asked, horrified.

"Y'know how I was gone fer three days while I was bringing apples to grocery stores in other towns? Well, I spent two o' those days lyin on the ground bleeding heavily from _knife wounds_!" Applejack shouted whipping around to face her, tears welling up in her eyes. "I got robbed of all of my apples and the money I had made selling them! Do you know how it feels to have your pride ripped away from you like that? Huh?"

"Ah- but… um…" Rainbow was at a loss for words, she'd never seen her friend so upset in her life.

"Nothing you or anyone can say will stop me. I might not kill that there black and white stallion, but I will at least cripple him fer life," Applejack promised herself.

"You realize how dangerous and stupid that is right?"

"At this point ah honestly don' care," AJ muttered.

"I'm coming with you," Rainbow said after a moment's hesitation.

"You aint goin nowhere except home," Applejack spat.

"Yes, I am. You're like one of my best friends, if getting revenge means that much to you, I'll help."

"Fine," Apple growled.

"So… should I go and get some supplies or something from my house then? You only seem to have those weapons and that cloak."

"If you must…."

"I can be back in ten minutes," Rainbow promised and burst off into the sky.

Applejack stared up at the rainbow streak in the air and sighed. "Well that wuz decent of 'er… Ah well, nothing I can do 'bout it now."she muttered grumpily. She refocused her gaze out toward the dark forest, it stretched for miles on end and connected various towns. That's where she had been stabbed. That was the first place she'd look.

"I'm comin for you, you'd better pray for mercy when I'm through with you," Applejack hissed into the dead, evening air.

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><p><strong>Hey guys! This is my first story so tell me what you think! Constructive Critisism is greatly appreciated! :)<strong>


	2. More to This

**Chapter the Second**

Rainbowdash yawned, "Hey Apple… it's getting late; maybe we should stop for the night…"

"Ughh… whatever," the yellow pony replied coldly.

"Geez what happened to you? I've never seen you like this before!" Rainbowdash scolded. "I think you need to loosen up just a little."

"I don' fuckin care what yall think about me," she snapped.

"What the hell is the matter with you? You never swear-!"

"Around others," Applejack finished setting her supplies down on the grass and leaned her bow against a tree.

Rainbowdash sighed and sat down, "Tell me what happened."

"Why should I?"

"You're my friend and I care about you. We're in this together."

"Fine…" Applejack muttered, she picked up some dry sticks and logs from around the clearing and piled them up against each other. She pulled a lighter out from under her traveling cloak in lit them. "I was going through these very woods, mindin my own business. I was humming cheerily to myself as I pulled my cart which was filled to the brim with apples. It was sunny; birds were singin and there was a pleasant wind… And then _he _came along."

Rainbowdash picked up large amounts of venom in the word 'he'.

"He was a tall sleek, black pony with a white mane and a lightning bolt mark on his tail. He came stumblin out of the bushes covered in bruises, so I asked if he was alright. He told me he was lost, almost starved to death, and scared out of his mind. I thought I'd help him and gave him a couple of the apples I was bringing to other towns. I didn't get two inches from him with 'em when I felt a piercin sensation in my leg, I knew immediately it was a knife."

She shuddered. "My leg capsized underneath me and I fell over, I looked up at him to see him standing over me with an evil grin on his face. My eyes widened in horror as I saw him raise the knife again. Everything went black after that…"

Rainbow dash thought she saw a tear run down her friend's yellow cheek. "When I finally woke up, it was nighttime; I couldn't move and I could feel blood pourin out my leg, chest, and a little on my face. The male horse was gone and so was my cart."

"It was a trick?" Rainbow asked, horrified.

"Brilliant Hooves," muttered Applejack sarcastically, quoted one of the characters from her favorite mystery series _Sherlock Hooves_ that Twilight Sparkle had given her for her birthday.

Rainbow frowned, "I can see why you're mad."

"No frickin duh," AJ mumbled.

Rainbow lifted her head to the sky, "Hey, do you smell that?"

"What, the fire or my despair?" Apple inquired.

Rainbowdash got to her feet, "No… I think I smell apples… over this way..."

"Damn it, Rainbow, stop messing with me!" Applejack hissed, scrambling to her feet.

"No… I'm serious!" She walked quickly toward the woods, sniffing the air.

"Rainbow!" Applejack shouted, chased after her.

The two friends walked slowly through the dizzying array of pine and oak trees, shrubs, and ivy, Apple began noticing faint traces of apples in the air.

They arrived in a dark clearing, "Hey! That's my cart!" Applejack shouted, noticing a large wooden wagon in the shadows next to some kind of hot spring.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is," called a sneer from behind them.

Applejack and Rainbowdash whipped around to see the same stallion that had attacked AJ, his red eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.

"You!" Applejack hollered. "What the hell was that whole thang about you stupid bastard?"

"You should be dead," he replied in a demonic voice.

_That didn't take long_, Rainbowdash thought to herself_, it's kind of disappointing. _

"That didn' answer mah question," AJ hissed.

"So what?" was his only reply.

"I'll show you what you bastard!" Apple leaped at him and landed on his back. The two began fighting, kicking each other with their hooves in one another's face.

Rainbowdash lurched forward. "No!" Apple shouted, stopping her. "He's mine!"

Rainbow watched helplessly as she watched her friend melee against the black mare in hoof-to-hoof combat. The minutes seemed like hours to her but it was also a blur, "You ain't goin nowhere hon." She finally heard Applejack say. She blinked to see the beige pony standing on top of the mare who growled and tried to get out from under her hooves.

Rainbow padded forward and examined his face. She cocked an eyebrow and bent down to get a closer look at his eyes. "What are you doing?" Applejack asked.

"Um… his eyes… they don't have irises. Or pupils. They're just… glowing red…"

Apple bent down and looked at his face. "Okay… that's freaky."

"Get off me and stop staring!" he hissed.

"I don't think he's evil. I think he might be possessed," Rainbowdash announced quietly. "One way to find out, help me drag him over to the spring."

Applejack and Rainbowdash bit the fur around his neck and dragged him over to the pool despite his angry protests.

"So… now what?" AJ inquired stepping on his back again.

"We dunk him in and hold him for a while. If he's possessed then he should come to his scenes," Rainbowdash retorted.

"And you know this how…?" AJ inquired.

"Twilightsparkle usually gives us books on our birthdays as a side-gift, remember?" Rainbow replied. Applejack nodded.

They threw the horse in the scalding water, "Arghhh!" he cried out and began thrashing around.

"Don't let go!" RB commanded Applejack.

After a few minutes of agony and yelling, the black pony stopped moving altogether, "Is he dead?" Applejack asked.

His eyes opened slowly. They could both see they were light green now. "W-Where am I…?"

He bolted out of the water. "What the hell am I doing in the forest?" he asked aloud. He turned to them looking nervous, "And who are you?"

"Yep. He was possessed," Applejack stated flatly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked.

"You stabbed and robbed me, and my friend and I found yall and almost drowned you 'cause we thought yall were possessed. And we were right," Apple replied.

"Me? How could I do that to a gorgeous pony like you?" he asked.

All the blood in Applejack's body seemed to rush to her face, "Uh… w-well… yah see… um…"

"Something or someone took over you," Rainbow answered for Applejack. "What's your name?"

"N-name? Uh Nightstrike, they call me Nightstrike."

"Rainbow, I think we should try to find what did this to him, since we're on this journey anyway…"

"Sounds good to me."

"C-Can I come to? I promise not to do any of the heinous things I did while I was um… possessed…" Nightstrike stammered nervously.

"Sure, now let's get back to camp," Rainbowdash responded, nodding.

"Thanks."

As the two ponies and the Pegasus walked back to camp, Applejack hung back a bit and studied Nightstrike. He was a very handsome horse, she now noticed, and he had a pair of gray sunglasses with a silver diamond-like shape next to them as his cutie-mark. _One of his talents must be being cool or awesome._

"Why are you staring at me? Do you still not trust me? I understand if you don't," Nightstrike asked, turning his head to her.

"Me? I-I wasn't starin at yall! What're ye talkin about?" she stuttered, blushing.

Rainbow dash raised her eyebrows listening to them; _this is going to be an interesting trip._

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><p><strong>This seems a little rushed to me... leave a review and tell me what you think. I'll probably fix this chap.<strong>


	3. The Nightmare

**CHAPTER THE THIRD**

Applejack stared at the black horse as he slept a little ways away from her. _I honestly thought we'd be searching fer him for weeks… It only took just over a day…_ She hesitated. "Good thing we didn't have to kill him, it would be such a waste to eliminate a nice-lookin horse like him…" she muttered.

She shook her head violently, _Idiot! What if one of them heard yall! There are much more important things to think about. Um… Who possessed him and why and what are their intentions? They probably have bad intentions… Nightstrike probably isn' the only one… Um… oh-oh…_

She saw Rainbowdash lift her head up; quickly, Applejack rest her head back on the ground and pretended to be asleep. "D-did you *yawn* say something AJ…?" she whispered groggily. When Applejack didn't reply she lay back down and again began snoring quietly. _Good ol' Rainbow… _she looked back over at Nightstrike. _You can't go thinking about how good he looks again. Possessed or not, he did try to kill you. _She thought to herself. _You can't entirely trust him yet… right? _She was too confused about her feelings toward him; it was like a war between love and hate.

_Screw this… just go to sleep, think in the morning with Rainbow. We'll get to the bottom o' this and kill the gosh-darn roots. _She closed her eyes.

"**You honestly think you and your little group can do that?" **A low voice cackled. Applejack's eyes shot open.

She scrambled to her feet and gazed around her in horror. She was standing on a boulder, completely surrounded by flames. There was no grass in sight. No forest. No camp. No Rainbowdash and Nightstrike. She was alone. "H-h-hello…?" she called out nervously.

"**You don't stand a chance."**

"Sh-show yourself!" AJ demanded, starting to freak out.

A shadow materialized before her. It had no shape and had the appearance of smoke. It began to move slowly around her.

"**This is not my true form. My body has yet to fully form."**

** "**What do you mean?" AJ questioned sheepishly.

"**I haven't fully been brought back yet. The deck of cards that is my life is missing some cards. Very important ones for that matter; without them, the deck is not complete, I am not represented face cards, that's what I lack. Do you have any idea what those are?"**

"I-I don't have the slightest clue…" AJ answered stepping back as the shadow moved closer.

"**Four Aces, Four Jacks, Four Queens, Four Kings, and Two Jokers, all of which reside here in Equestria. They are noble horses like you, good face cards. You are one of them, along with your friends Rainbowdash, TwilightSparkle, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkiepie, Nightstrike, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and others too . You and Rainbowdash are two of the bravest and most good-hearted ponies on the God-forsaken rock you call a planet and one of the most important because you represent the Elements of Honesty and Loyalty. Your hearts radiate a strong aura which helps hold back lies and betrayal, two main parts of evil, from penetrating the inner walls of your realm. With you gone, the balance will shift greatly, then I release the other demons of that nature by destoying the others, thus creating the dark-cards I need, and my army shall rise again. We will destroy everything and a new kingdom will emerge from out of the ashes. "**

"I won't let you do that!" AJ hissed, her head buzzing from the Voice's confusing words.

"**It's already begun. There is no preventing fate Applejack. No preventing it… no preventing it…"**

The shadow exploded, sending her tumbling backward.

"**Dusk has fallen, Applejack…" **stated the monotone voice, "**soon, night will follow." **It repeated and continued getting quieter and quieter until it disappeared completely.

Everything faded and Applejack felt like she was falling into oblivion.

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><p>Applejack woke with a start, trying desperately not to scream. Beads of sweat slowly trailed down her ginger-orange face and her whole body was shaking vigorously. The sun was just beginning to rise, but Applejack didn't stop watch it like she normally would every morning. She just stared at her quivering hooves in terror. Her friends were in danger and if she couldn't stop this... uprising or whatever, life as she knew it would be destoyed. The Voice's last words still rang in her ears. <em><strong>Dusk has fallen… soon, night will follow.<strong>_

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><p><strong>What do you think? Getting kind of spooky huh? Anyway, I'm most likely going to delve into the three title character's backstories next chapter and maybe show you guys what's going on with the other MLP series characters back in Ponyville. Stay tuned, and remember to review!<strong>


	4. In the Dark Library

**Okay, mosy=t of this chapter takes place back in Ponyville, to show you guys what some of the other characters are up to and how they're coping with the oncoming apocalypse. Enjoy!**

**Chapter the Fourth**

Rainbowdash's eyes opened slowly and she got to her feet. She stretched and shook her mane before looking around to see Applejack tending to the fire a few feet away. "Morning AJ!" the cobalt Pegasus called.

Applejack jumped, giving a slight shriek. "Oh, mornin' Rainbow," she replied.

"Sorry for scaring you," she said walking over to the orange land-pony. She noticed the bags under AJ's eyes. "Hey are you alright?"

"Uh…. Y-yeah…I-I'm fine," Applejack answered, failing to sound calm.

"Ok dude, what's wrong?" Rainbow pressed.

"Aint nothin' wrong sugar-cube!" Applejack stated with a forced smile.

"You're jumpy and stuttering and pretending to be happy. Talk," Rainbow demanded, her eye's piercing into her friend's.

"But I don't-" AJ began.

"Stop playing at not being spooked by something. It's quite obvious you're lying," Nightstrike called with a yawn from behind them, trotting up.

_He's weird. "_Nightstrike has a point, you're hiding something. I've known you too long to not know when something's on your mind. Deal with it," Rainbow said kindly.

Applejack shifted her feet uncomfortably. She sighed, "I had a really bad nightmare last night."

"About what?" Nightstrike asked, concerned.

Dejectedly, Applejack explained her dream from beginning to end, not leaving out a single detail, from the point where she first found herself on that boulder to the last words the Voice spoke to her.

Rainbowdash frowned. "It was just a dream. No need to be concerned," she said sounding calm.

"That doesn't sound like a dream to me. Me getting possessed and this dream are probably connected, the same force that Applejack met is most likely the one that corrupted me," Nightstrike theorized solemnly.

Applejack nodded unhappily, "All of Ponyville, Equestria, the world… all of it'll be destroyed. We have to do somethin'."

"I don't know if there is anything we can do," Rainbowdash started before noticing the determination in Applejack's large emerald eyes, "but we can certainly try!"

"That's the spirit!" Nightstrike grinned.

The purple unicorn paced slowly around the dark library, thinking hard to herself. "Twilight what's wrong?" Spike complained. "You've been walking like that for ten minutes!"

Twilightsparkle turned to the small purple dragon with green scales. "I honestly don't know. For some reason I feel like… something bad is going to happen…" She shook her head.

"You must be stressed about something then," Spike said. Out of nowhere, a large, dusty book fell onto his head. "OUCH! What the-?" He picked himself up off the ground as Twilightsparkle rushed over to him. "Is that what you've been worried about?" he grumbled.

"I think that was probably just a coincidence. You okay?" Spike nodded and rubbed his head. Twilight then looked at what book fell on him. It was a large, silver, hardcover book with odd markings on it. "_Ancient Lore and Prophecies of Equestria that are Believed to be Real_," Twilightsparkle read out loud. "I don't remember this one."

Spike looked at it, "It's covered in dust and half of the pages have come undone from the binding," he observed. "It must be really old."

Twilight looked at the first page. "Not just old, hundreds of years old! And it's still in relatively good condition too!" The cover crumbled to dust, startling her. "Or not…"

She looked at the hoof-written table of contents in cursive lettering. Her dark eyes locked on one chapter in particular: _Prophecies for the 21__st__ Century._ Frowning, she flipped to the page and began observing the chapter. Most of them were kind of dumb, like a 3-legged green Pegasus was to discover a breed of vegetarian Manticore, and Aliens were coming to bring them a new kind of cheese (Spike thought that one was kind of funny). Eventually, she spotted one that sounded slightly interesting: _Darkness from the Ashes._

Her eyes widened in horror as she read all of the awful things that would happen. Darkness rising, Equestria in turmoil, the fall Harmony… "Oh dear God…" she whispered as she read about the sheer destruction that was to come.

She ripped the page out of the book and handed it to Spike, "Send this to Princess Celestia immediately!"

Spike rolled up the parchment and burned it in the special way that sent letters to the Princess. The two waited in worried silence for ten minutes. Twilight looked through the rest of the 21st Century prophecies to find nothing else that could potentially end life and realized that the 21st Century was the second to last chapter of the book, the last of which was just a warning that the stars where never wrong.

Spike burped and Princess Celestia's reply appeared. Spike cleared his throat and read it, "My dearest Twilightsparkle. This came as quite a shock to me. I read just as much as you do and never have I seen a book with this information in it. What it says is quite troublesome. Whether or not this prophecy is true is beyond my comprehension, but you were correct about Nightmare Moon… I mean, Princess Luna… so I have my faith in you. I pray that this is not the case and the pony that wrote this was wrong, but if not we'd best be on our guard. What it said about the Elements of Harmony and all the other 'noblest horses' to be destroyed is what most bothers me most. It seems to be implying that death for our world's bravest, smartest, (e. t. c.) Ponies are going to be murdered. Write immediately if you find out anything else."

The door to the library opened slowly and a quiet voice called in, "T-Twilightsparkle? Are you there?"

"H-hey Fluttershy, come on in." The pale yellow Pegasus flew in and landed nest to her friend.

"Um… have you seen Rainbowdash or Applejack anywhere? Nobody has seen them since Applejack stumbled into town all angry and bleeding… They aren't at their houses and they aren't in town," Fluttershy whispered.

"Damn…" Twilight muttered. "Spike, take note." Spike made a quill and parchment appear and got ready to write. "Write 'Rainbowdash and Applejack are missing. I have a feeling they might know what's going on.'"

Spike sent the message to the princess. "What do you mean by they might know what's going on?" Fluttershy questioned.

"We might be headed for apocalypse Flutter. I don't know when or how it'll happen, or even if it will. It was an old prophecy for this year, I hope AJ and Rainbow know what their getting into," Twilightsparkle stated as her friend's eyes broadened in fear. "It's not like the time with Nightmare Moon or things like that. If this prophecy is true, we're all gonna die."

**Okay, I see that this story isn't being followed much. It hasn't even received ONE review yet! *cries* *jk* But I am determined to finish it and make it awesome. I think nobody was looking at it because it was rated M when it should have been T, my mistake. PLEASE send me a review! It would make my day! *Applebloom eyes* (BTW I know it's kind of slow right now, but It'll get better soon, I promise there's gonna be fights and blood and scary monster things! ^^**


	5. The First Demon

**This chapter is going to have the first fight between the characters and some hideous monster. Enjoy.**

The Everfree Forest was just as creepy as Rainbowdash remembered it. The mist hanging in the air, the trees that seemed to have faces and everything seemed darker than forests usually are. Everything looked menacing and spooky. "Well, this place is still as lovely as ever," she said, sinking ankle deep in mud.

"Oh yeah, Pinky should have her next party in this dump," Applejack stated sarcastically. "Where do you think we are?"

"I'd say about 50 miles from the country of Ponyland and we're about a mile from the center of the forest. But also, Rainbow is sinking in mud, you're about to trip over a root and I'm at the top of a tree," Nightstrike called.

Applejack looked up to see Nightstrike waving from the top branch of a dead oak tree; the second she did, she tripped over a root. "How the hell did you get up there?" she shouted to him, getting to her feet.

"I climbed! It's not that hard" he shouted back. He jumped down the banches and landed next to Applejack startling her.

"Geez, are you a horse or a monkey?" Rainbowdash exclaimed, trudging out of the mud.

"A horse, I just learned to climb trees when I was little. Most earth-ponies cant. I was up there to see if I could spot the sunglasses I lost," Nightstrike sighed.

"They probably came off when you got possessed," Rainbow suggested.

"Yeah, 'cause I know I had it before everything in my head went black…" Nightstrike shook his head. "You know, I think I was around here…"

Applejack looked around; a small glinting black object under a tree caught her eye. Trotting over to it, she realized it was a pair of bent sunglasses. "Found it!" she called.

Nightstrike raced over, "Awesome!" he grinned. He noticed that they were bent and one of the lenses was cracked, "Aw man!"

Nightstrike disdainfully scooped his broken sunglasses up and unbent them, he put them on his head.

"We'll have Twilightsparkle fix them later. She's great with magic and I'm sure she can spruce them up," Applejack stated. She hesitated, "Our friend Rarity might be able to fix them too."

The group trudged on through the damp forest in silence, really not having much to talk about at the moment. An hour passed and they didn't come across any other living being besides the plants. "Does anything even live in here?" Nightstrike asked.

"Not much that I know of. An occasional Manticore, Vampire Bats, grubs, Sea Monsters, and fish are all I know of. Oh and there's also those Ursa Major and Ursa Minor that Snips and Snails found when Trixie came to town," Applejack recalled.

"Fluttershy and Twilight also told me that hawks, rats, and carnivorous squirrels live in here too," Rainbowdash added.

"So basically, most of the animals are blood thirsty and could kill us at a moment's notice," Nightstrike put simply. "That sure brightens my day."

"I'm glad yall feel that way, Sugar-cube," Applejack replied with her own sarcasm.

"I'm gonna get and aerial view of where we are, hang on," Rainbowdash said, changing the topic, and took off into air.

She went really high into the sky; she could see almost all of Equestria. She could see Ponyville off in the distance; that it was raining in Manehattan; and all of the Everfree Forest and lots of other places..

She landed on the ground, "We're about two miles from the snowy town of Trotski, eight miles from Viper Valley, one mile from the ruined castle where the Elements of Harmony used to be, Phillydelphia is connected to this forest too, but we'd have to start in the opposite direction and travel another week. Oh, and Rainbow Plateau is about a day's walk and so are the Mysterious Ruins that every-pony is afraid of," Rainbow summed up.

"Well, Ponyland and Phillydelphia are too far away, Trotski is really cold this time a year so that's out…" Applejack started.

"Viper Valley is dangerous, the only thing special about Rainbow Plateau is the auroras and rainbows so we can't find anything out there, that leaves the castle and the ruins," Nightstrike finished.

"Why don't we check out the castle first, we probably won't learn anything but it can't help to check. All in favor of going to the castle, whinny," Rainbowdash stated. The vote was unanimous. "Okay then, it's this way!"

"Well yall were right Rainbow, there was nothin' in the castle we could work with," Applejack alleged as they trotted across the rickety wooden bridge.

"Yep, oh well," Rainbow shrugged.

"I guess we should check the ruins then," Nightstrike determined.

"One thing I should mention about that," Rainbowdash said, "We'll have to walk through a mountain cave to get there."

"I know, I used to live around that area as a Philly," Nightstrike stated.

"Gottcha," Rainbowdash nodded./

The group trotted through the woods making light conversation for a few hours, stopping only to eat or when they needed to rest. Eventually, they arrived at a mountain range, the biggest of which had a small cave with a path leading up to it and carved stairs in front of it from rock. The cave was dark and surprisingly hot inside as they walked through. "Golly, why the hay is it so damn hot in here?" AJ asked.

Nightstrike stopped suddenly in front of her and she almost bumped into him. "There's your answer," the black colt gulped, looking down the cliff.

Rainbowdash and Applejack peered over as well to see a river of boiling lava. "Why do dark, threatening caves always turn out to be volcanoes?" Rainbowdash muttered.

"Beats me," Applejack said and jumped over it, landing gracefully on the other side.

Nightstrike and Rainbowdash followed her and continued to trek through the cave. They entered a large cavern that had a small land bridge one hundred feet over a large pit of magma and a rather low ceiling that gradually got higher farther along the bridge. None of them moved for a moment. "Well here goes," Rainbow shuddered and began to trot across the bridge. Nightstrike and Applejack looked at each other nervously.

"Just don't look down," Nightstrike assured her, and himself for that matter.

The two ponies walked slowly toward the center of the bridge where Rainbowdash was fluttering, waiting for them. No sooner had they got there, a few rocks from the bridge fell into the lava below and a huge roar echoed through the cavern. "Dragon?" Rainbowdash guessed.

Nightstrike's eye widened in fear as he looked down, "Um… having watched enough fantasy movies, I know that it's worse than an angry dragon…"

"What could be worse than that?" Applejack asked nervously.

An enormous black creature that looked like it was on fire was scaling the walls. It had large, jagged wings, five foot long claws, and appeared to be wearing an old war helmet made entirely of flames. Applejack was sorry she asked. "THAT"S A BALROG! RUN!" Nightstrike commanded and took off toward the other side. The Balrog stepped on the bridge and it began crumbling behind them. On the other side of the bridge was a bunch of crumbling marble pillars covered in mold. There was faded, ancient text written on them, the ponies raced into the room, the Balrog right on their heels. The monster crushed the pillars. It roared again and breathed fire, lighting up the room.

"Where have I seen this before?" Rainbowdash shouted, having reached full panic mode.

Applejack remembered an ancient story she read as a Philly. "My arrow tips are made of lead!"

"So what?" Nightstrike cried.

"If I shoot them into his mouth and he tries to breath fire, he'll choke because the lead will melt!" she shot back.

"It's worth a shot! Pun intended!" Rainbowdash shouted. "I'll distract it!" She zoomed up toward the monster, "Hey ugly, over here ya big lug!"

Rainbow began flying around it, the monster roared from frustration and began swatting at her and stomping. He almost stepped on Applejack as she drew an arrow from her quiver and strung it to her bow. She could feel the intense flames bursting from the Balrog's hideous body as she frantically jumped out of the way of his foot.

The Balrog roared angrily as it missed Rainbowdash over and over again. Rainbow was taunting it by saying things like, "Nyah, Nyah!", "Missed me again," and I'd tell you to go to hell but I'd say you already live there!" She also waved her tail at it and stuck her tongue out. Nightstrike, meanwhile, was kicking rocks at it.

Applejack drew he string back, sweat clung to her face and hooves, the Balrog roared again and she fired. With blinding speed, the brown and ashy-gray projectile lodged itself into the Balrog's black throat in his mouth; it was quickly joined by two more.

The Balrog chocked and stumbled a bit as another arrow hit his eye. A billow of flames emerged from behind its incredibly sharp teeth. Just as Applejack predicted, the lead melted in its mouth, choking the beast. With a great heave, it fell over, nearly smashing into Rainbowdash. It left a huge crater where it landed. The flames on its body quickly died out. "Is it… is it dead?" Applejack asked. Nightstrike studied it. He looked back up at her and nodded grimly. "If either of you tell Fluttershy about this, I'm gonna have Rarity use your furs for winter coats," she said jokingly.

"Can we leave now? This place gives me the willies," Rainbowdash stated, glancing at the crumbling stone statues that lined the walls.

"Sure thing, sugar," Applejack nodded, and the three trotted toward the cave exit nearby, Nightstrike bringing up the rear.

They weren't outside for two seconds before Nightstrike exclaimed, "Rainbow, your tail is on fire!"

Rainbow had noticed in the cave that her tail was rather hot, but she just figured it was from the Balrog's body, now she realized how much it hurt. Without opening her mouth, she began using her hind legs to crush and put out the small flames on her multicolored tail. "Good catch. Thanks."

"Okay,_ that_ was awful…" AJ gulped, staring at the cave.

"Well, having watched and read the first Lord of the Horseshoes, I'm pretty sure Balrogs are rarer than Dragons, so you won't have to worry about facing one again," Nightstrike smiled.

"**I hope you had fun with my pet Applejack, Rainbowdash, and Nightstrike…" **the voice cackled sarcastically, watching through a white flame the three ponies trotting away from the Balrog's corpse.** "The worst is yet to come."**

**Well this was the first fight of the story, after this, the brawls will get harder if not bloodier. Review please? Also the Balrog is from the Lord of the Rings series, I don't know who owns it now because I think the author is dead, but give credit to him anyway! ^^**


End file.
